Page 43 - Living Light 91

Monday January 12 - Come to your senses
“Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die...” Revelation 3:2
Today, we receive a heavenly wake-up call! It’s something I’ve needed quite often throughout my Christian life, a sort of Galatians 3:3 rebuke: ‘After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh?’ We can start with great enthusiasm, eager to receive God’s directions and his power, and then almost imperceptibly we begin to coast, in effect lifting our foot off the accelerator, freewheeling, losing drive, taking our eyes off the satnav... and before we know it we are miles off course. The issue is age-old: foolishly forsaking dependence on God for self-reliance.
The city of Sardis was virtually impregnable by virtue of its physical location. It stood 1500 feet above a valley with only one viable approach route. History reveals how its people drifted into a sense of complacency and, before they knew it, by stealth the enemy was within the city walls.
Friends, the church needs to hear the clarion call of God: “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit” (Zechariah 4:6). By living in the past we become oblivious to the ever-present danger of falling away. It’s a process: losing our first love, losing zeal, compromising faith and slipping into abiding sin. God calls us to be alert and to ‘be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power’ (Ephesians 6:10).
Father, today I choose to put on the full armour of God, so that I can take my stand against the devil’s schemes. Amen.
Tuesday January 13 - Finish what you start
“...for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God.”
Revelation 3:2
We saw yesterday that spiritual life can so easily ebb away like the tide. It can happen to us all: Samson was unaware that his strength had left him (Judges 16:20); Saul did not notice that the Spirit of the Lord had departed (1 Samuel 16:14). The church in Sardis was oblivious of the fact that it was dying. Jesus identified the cause of the church’s demise; put simply it was that “deeds (were) unfinished in the sight of God.”
We can start something with great enthusiasm (e.g. fasting, reading through the Bible, having quiet times, being committed to a calling or a project) but for one reason or another we do not see it through. We are encouraged to ‘run with perseverance the race marked out for us’ (Hebrews 12:1). In John 17:4, Jesus proclaims, “I have glorified you (his Father) on earth by accomplishing the work you gave me to do.” Jesus is our example in all things.
The immediacy of modern life lends itself to the ‘short game’. Our eyes are too easily drawn to other things, leaving work unfinished despite our best intentions. Some of the most successful weapons in the devil’s arsenal are procrastination and prevarication. Please join with me today in rededicating yourself to the purposes and the call of God. May his grace and his power give you success!
Father, may I be able to say with Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). Amen.
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PRAYER FOR TODAY
PRAYER FOR TODAY